This service provides a convenient way of fullfilling one of the pillars of Islam. Over the past years we have noticed that more and more members are using our service. Because of the importance of zakat, this service is open to all Muslims regardless of whether they are Melayu UK members or not.

We organise Perhimpunan Keluarga to enable members and their family to get together for a few days for socialising. Perhimpunan Keluarga is also packed with various activities such as archery, orienteering, tog-o-war, pioneering and BBQ. Children who have been to Perhimpunan Keluarga still have vivid memories of the enjoyment that they experienced during their childhood years.

Our members are scattered across the UK and many live is areas where there are few Muslims and getting the opportunities to learn about Islam is limited.
Those who would like to learn how to read the Quran can now subscribe to a self-pace online learning at http://tajwid.pisang.uk

Counselling services can be obtained from PISANG (Professional Islamic Support and Nurture Group), a Malay-driven not-for-profit organisation. Please visit their website www.pisang.uk for more information.

On behalf of Melayu UK, we would like to thank everybody who came to the Hari Raya With Melayu UK on Sunday 5th October 2008, jointly organised by Melayu UK and the Indonesian community in Manchester. The event was a great success with guests from various racial background, nationality and even religion. This shows the increasing influence of Melayu UK and our leadership capability in bringing together people of various racial background and religion. Many have also expressed their excitement after knowing the existence of Melayu UK.

We also would like to thank Mr Paul Barnes, the head teacher of Cheetham CE Community School who gave us the permission to organise the event at the school and also for joining us on the day.

Special thanks to Dr Malik, Chairman of DM Digital TV who arranged and contributed towards the cost of the food catering. We were delighted to have Dr Malik, his Malay wife Puan Rohila Musa, and their 2 children joining us at the event. They have visited our website and have expressed their support for Melayu UK for our vision and the work that we have done.

We would also like to thank all those who have made contributions in various forms e.g. food, cash, prizes, goody bags etc.

We would like to say a very big thank you to all those who have volunteered to help us organise the event and help in ensuring that everything runs smoothly on the day. Without them, it would have been impossible to keep the event in an orderly manner.

We would also like to thank Pak Iwan Effendi of the Indonesian community in Manchester, Abida Malik of FOSIS and Norhasnida Zawawi of MSM for their participation as panel speakers at the forum "Malays in the West: Quality Counts". We hope that overseas Malay students will venture out of their closed Malaysian Malay students community and be pro-active in contributing to the wider British community during their stay in the UK.

As in all events we can never get 100% perfection and there are many areas where we can improve. Despite the imperfections, guests were extremely excited and many have already requested us to organise more events. We hope many more will come forward to assist us in organising future events and we hope every event will be better than the previous.

Due to the time constraint on the day and the lack of manpower, I would like to apologise for not being able to get to know everyone. We have the contact details of most of those who have registered but there are some who have not given us their contact details. Those who have not given their contact details can send me an email (hamidi @ melayu.org.uk) so that we can contact you for our future events.

We are currently getting a lot of interest from non-members who want to join our "Hari Raya With Melayu UK" event. It is becoming extremely difficult for us to estimate the amount of food and presents required for the event. In order to keep the day in an orderly manner and have sufficient food and presents, we REQUEST EVERYBODY TO PRE-REGISTER. Please use the online registration form.

We will do our best to ensure that there will be sufficient food for everyone and Insha'Allah we will be able to cater for some who make last minute decision to come. Problem may arise if there are too many unregistered people appearing on the day. To be fair, those who have contributed and those who have pre-registered WILL HAVE PRIORITY on food coupons, which will be issued upon arrival. We can only guarantee the availability of food to those with food coupons.

We hope everybody can co-operate as follows:

We hope parents who have not made arrangement with Zurina to bring presents for their own children for distribution during prize/present giving time. We do not want any child to be left out

The ever increasing number of people intending to come means that we are working beyond our financial capacity. We hope you can make some financial contribution to cover the cost of the event. We would like to thank those who have made contributions in the form of food, cash, materials, gifts etc, and they do not have to make any more contribution.

We need to borrow another Nintendo Wii and flat screen TV to avoid any chaos on the day. Please let us know if you can help in this matter

We welcome anybody who want to sponsor party hats.

We also encourage everybody to wear traditional clothing on the day e.g. for men baju Melayu or batik or just put on a songkok etc. If you don't have any of those, just wear normal clothing. The most important thing is to attend the event and enjoy the day.

Within 100 days of Pakatan Rakyat's rule in Selangor state, it was reported by the media that Islam Hadhari (Civilisational Islam) was banned (Malay terminology used: haram) by the state government. A few days later after heated exchange of words, the "haram" terminology was changed to a milder "no longer promoting". A few other Pakatan Rakyat states later follow the footsteps of Selangor. What is so controversial about Islam Hadhari? Is there any substance in the "banning" of Islam Hadhari or was the "banning" a result of political sentiments?

Melayu UK is proud to organise an Intellectual Discourse on Islam Hadhari. This event will enable us to hear the version from the promoters of Islam Hadhari and also an occasion where participants can challenge the promoters or prove that Islam Hadhari is a deviant teaching.

This event is a platform for intellectual discussion and we hope at the end of the day we will have a clearer picture of Islam Hadhari e.g. is it an approach that we can apply globally especially in the UK, or is it a deviant form of Islam that has to be rejected.

It is important for us to attend the event as the intellectual discussion can differentiate us from those who pick up bits and pieces of information from YouTube or junk emails. To be good leaders, we have to equip ourselves with knowledge instead of just relying on rhetoric.

You can turn up at the event on the day. However we prefer you to pre-register as this will help us with in ensuring the smooth running of the event.

Insha'Allah Melayu UK will be organising/joint-organising the following events:

1. Wacana Islam Hadhari (26nd - 27th July 2008). This programme will be organised by Melayu UK and MSD London.

2. Girls Residential Summer Activity (27th July - 2nd August 2008). This is a subsidised event for girls age 14 to 19. Please contact Nabilah via email nabilah @ melayu.org.uk for more details.

3. BBQ day out at Platt Fields Park, Manchester (Early August 2008). This event is open to everyone regardless of whether they are Melayu UK members or not. Please contact Zurina, our Secretary cum North West Representative, via email zurina @ melayu.org.uk

4. A 2-day Islamic Medical Treatment clinic in Manchester (tentative mid July: date to be confirmed). Ustaz Trimizi from PISANG (Professional Islamic Support and Nurture Group) will be conducting the clinic for those who need screening or follow-up treatment.

We are also very pleased that membership of Melayu UK continue to increase and many Malaysian students are also benefiting from joint Melayu UK and PISANG activities. While our focus membership is still resident Malays (UK permanent residents and citizens), we still welcome others to join and benefit from our activities.

With the Malaysian government planning to increase non-bumiputra scholarship allocation from 10 percent to 45 percent, we will also see that Malaysian Malay student population in the UK will eventually decrease. This may cause some of the existing small Malaysian Malay student communities or organisations to dissolved because of lack of membership. Some of the bigger Malaysian Malay students communities or organisations may also see their membership dwindled, making their exiting roles less effective or even unsustainable.

With the expected decline in the number of Malaysian Malay students in the UK, we would expect many of them would join Melayu UK activities. This inevitably will require Melayu UK to provide new roles, take over roles from dissolved Malaysian Malay organisations, and to organise more events at regional and national levels.

The number of resident Malays in the UK will continue to increase, especially those who were born in the UK. It has become an obligation for Melayu UK to nurture the young members from this category. The Girls Residential Summer Activity is one of our initiative to instil leadership skills amongst them. Insha'Allah next year we will be organising an equivalent Boys Summer Activity. By investing in our younger generation, we will ensure that Melayu UK will continue to expand and provide valuable services not only to the Malay community but also to the British public.

Melayu UK and PISANG (Professional Islamic Support and Nurture Group) have jointly put effort in the Love Sufiah initiative with encouraging positive results. In addition to the Love Sufiah initiative, PISANG also held mobile clinics for screening and treatment of sihir and jinn disturbances in Bicester, Manchester (twice), Birmingham and Aberdeen. We apologise for the cancellation of the London clinic and also for not being able to meet requests from other areas.

Despite the strong support Melayu UK and PISANG have received, we are still facing a big deficit on the Love Sufiah initiative. Please donate generously for this good cause and help us balance our account.

A delegation comprising of Ustaz Trimizi Zainal, Ustaz Hanafi Abdul Malek and Ms. Nor Azian Ab. Rahman, of Professional Islamic Support and Nurture Group (PISANG), arrived in the UK on Tuesday 22nd April 2008. Their presence in the UK is to cooperate with Melayu UK in bringing back Sufiah Yusof to live a decent and respectful life. Ustaz Abdul Hadi Talhah, the fourth member of the delegation, will be arriving in 2 weeks time.

PISANG comprise of professionals in various disciplines geared to meet the challenges of promoting holistic Islamic treatment at the global arena. With a high success rate in Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Australia, USA, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Sufiah’s issue has attracted the interest of the group.

We are very concerned with the involvement of Sufiah in immoral activities, which we believe is caused by complex external and internal factors. By taking a pro-active action in Sufiah’s case, we hope to protect the dignity of a woman, a Malay and a genius. We do not want a repetition of similar cases either in the UK or anywhere in the world.